Windy weather doesn’t deter Hillyard sidewalk artists

This year’s Hillyard Chalk Art Walk fell on the one blustery day of the week, but that didn’t deter the artists. More than 130 people crouched and kneeled on the Market Street sidewalks Saturday, drawing everything from puppies to solar systems to ninja turtles and skateboarders.

“We are just hoping the rain won’t get here,” said Desi Bucknell, treasurer of the Hillyard Festival Association, one of the many neighborhood volunteers who helped put the event together. “It was tough finding a theme for this year, but we picked Hillyard’s Future.”

Best in Show, Makayla Miracle, 15, drew a blue-eyed skateboarding girl zooming off on a jet-propelled hovercraft on a background of tall buildings.

Artists could sign up all day, as long as they were done at judging time: 3 p.m.

“We give them chalk here and everything they need,” said Bucknell.

Participants got a T-shirt featuring last year’s Best of Show drawing.

Hillyard Kiwanis Club handed out free bicycle helmets for children and the neighborhood association asked people to share ideas and concerns for Hillyard’s future.

Bucknell said the biggest number of chalk drawing participants was 180 people a couple of years ago.

“And this is the last year for these old sidewalks,” said Bucknell. As part of the Market Street restoration project that will soon be under way, new sidewalks will be put in on both sides of the street.

“They make them so they are perfect for chalk art,” Bucknell explained. “They will have large white squares and red frames; it will be great.”

Jonathan Rooney was painting a large portrait of people standing on Market Street.

He’d brought a gardening pad to kneel on, paper towels to smudge the chalk lines with and extra pastels for special colors.

“It’s the third year I’m doing the chalk art walk,” said Rooney, drawing a bright blue sky. “My sister and brother-in-law are both artists, so they have given me some tips.”

The image, however, was his own idea.

“The people are not someone I know, they are just made up,” said Rooney, 15. At the end of the contest, he took first prize in the 16-20 age group.

What was Rooney’s best advice to future chalk artists?

“Bring your own pastels and charcoal,” Rooney said. “The chalk is good for big pictures and lines, but if you want to do a lot of detail, you need the other stuff.”